What is the Sunnah regarding lowering oneself into prostration: should the hands be placed before the knees, or the knees before the hands?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sunan Abi Dawud 840Sahih (Al-Albani).
The Shaykh : So he does not kneel down with a pause.
The questioner : .
The Shaykh : His hands.
The questioner : .
The Shaykh : And he places.
The questioner :Sunan Abi Dawud 840Sahih (Al-Albani). It was narrated by the three of the compilers of the Sunan. What is your opinion regarding what is better in prostration: with the hand or with the knee? And how does a camel kneel down, with its knee or with its hands?
The Shaykh : Yes, in this hadith the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade a man, when he prostrates, from kneeling down like a camel. This means that he forbade a person from placing his hands before his knees. Because if a person places his hands before his knees, he has knelt down like a camel. For the camel, according to its manner of kneeling, kneels with its hands and then moves back to kneel on its legs. However, there remains a problem with what follows this phrase, which is his saying:. This derivation is inverted for the narrator, and the correct version is "and he places his knees before his hands," because if he places his hands before his knees, he has knelt down like a camel. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say, "So he does not kneel on what the camel kneels on." If he had said this, "on what the camel kneels on," the end of the hadith would have matched its beginning, and he would have placed his hands first. This is because the camel's knees are in its hands. But the hadith is a prohibition of the manner, not of the limb upon which one prostrates. The manner, as is known to everyone who has seen a camel, is that the camel places its hands first, meaning it places its front before its rear. Unless a person is unable and cannot prostrate with his legs before his hands, in which case there is no harm in placing his hands first due to necessity. Yes.
when one of you prostrates himself he must not kneel
إذا سجد أحدكم فلا يبركThe Shaykh : So he does not kneel down with a pause.
The questioner :
And let him place his hand before his knees
وليضع يده قبل ركبتيهThe Shaykh : His hands.
The questioner :
And let him place his hands before his knees
وليضع يديه قبل ركبيتهThe Shaykh : And he places.
The questioner :
but should put down his hands before his knees
وليضع يديه قبل ركبتيهThe Shaykh : Yes, in this hadith the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade a man, when he prostrates, from kneeling down like a camel. This means that he forbade a person from placing his hands before his knees. Because if a person places his hands before his knees, he has knelt down like a camel. For the camel, according to its manner of kneeling, kneels with its hands and then moves back to kneel on its legs. However, there remains a problem with what follows this phrase, which is his saying: